University
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SAREO
Student Assessment,
Research, and Evaluation Office
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University
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SARIS REPORT NO. 301
THE ENTERING CLASS AT UMASS:
ACE/CIRP SURVEY, FALL 1996
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface
Overview of Report Presentation
Section 1. Freshmen Profile
Family
Students
Section 2. Academic Preparation and Expectations
High School Achievement
Self Evaluation
Academic Expectations
Section 3. Decision to Attend College
Reasons for Attending College
Reasons for Selecting the University of Massachusetts
Number of Applications and Acceptances
Section 4. Financing College Education
Section 5. Probable Major and Intended Career
Probable Major
Career Preference
Degree Expectations
Section 6. Freshmen Lifestyle and Expectations
Activities and Interests
Expected Satisfaction
Section 7. Life Objectives
Section 8. Social and Political Attitudes
Appendices
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Overview of ACE/CIRP Survey Questionnaire
Table 2: Family Characteristics of 1996 Freshmen
Table 3: Individual Characteristics of 1996 Freshmen
Table 4: High School Grades of 1996 Freshmen
Table 5: Self-Rating of 1996 Freshmen
Table 6: Academic Expectations of 1996 Freshmen
Table 7: Reasons for Attending College in 1996
Table 8: The Decision to Attend a Particular College in 1996
Table 9: Probable Major of 1996 Freshmen
Table 10: 1996 Freshmen Activities
Table 11: Non-Academic Expectations of 1996 Freshmen
Table 12: Top Ten Life Objectives of 1996 Freshmen
Table 13: Political Orientation of 1996 Freshmen
Table 14: Stances on Social and Political Issues
Table 15: Changes in Stances on Social and Political Issues
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Changes in Reasons for Attending College
Figure 2: Changes in Academic Reputation as a Reason to Attend UMass
Figure 3: Educational Resources
Figure 4: Grants and Scholarships
Figure 5: Loans
Figure 6: Probable Majors
Figure 7: Changes in Career Preferences
Figure 8: Changes in Smoking and Drinking Habits
Figure 9: Expected Satisfaction with college
Figure 10: Promote Racial Understanding
Figure 11: Promote Racial Understanding by Race
Figure 12: Being well off financially
Figure 13: Developing a meaningful philosophy of life
Figure 14: Keeping up to date with politics
Figure 15: Changes in support for legalizing marijuana & abolishing death penalty
Figure 16: The death penalty should be abolished
Figure 17: It is important to have laws prohibiting homosexual relationships
Normative data on the characteristics of freshmen entering American colleges and universities are useful for persons engaged in policy analysis, institutional planning and administration, educational research, guidance and counseling, as well as for the general community of students and parents. The annual survey of entering freshmen conducted by the UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute and partially sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE) provides such information. This survey is part of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), the nation's largest and longest national, longitudinal empirical study of the American higher education system. National results from this study are reported in The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 1996.
The CIRP survey provides information about incoming students' backgrounds, academic and career expectations, personal goals, and opinions on a wide range of political and social issues. The 1996 national study is based on responses from 251,232 freshmen entering 494 two-year and four-year institutions. The normative scores are stratified according to type of institution and admissions profile in order to facilitate comparison.
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass) has participated in the CIRP survey since its inception in 1966 (UMass did not participate in 1976 and 1978). Since 1975, the Student Affairs Research, Information and Systems Office (SARIS) has produced a report on the responses of UMass students and students in comparison schools. In 1996, 3,396 of the 3,870 entering UMass first-time, full-time freshmen who participated in the New Students Program also participated in the CIRP survey by completing the 30 minute questionnaire during the summer. The high response rate (87.8%) ensures that the scores for the University accurately represent the entire entering freshman class.
The report summarizes the 1996 responses of entering UMass students and students in comparison schools. Starting in 1995 the comparison schools were medium-select public universities. Medium-select is defined as an institution having an average composite SAT score (V & Q) of between 1000 and 1100 for the entering class. Until 1995, UMass Amherst data were compared to high-select public universities, where the average SAT scores for entering students are over 1100.
The 1996 CIRP survey contains items covering a broad range of subjects. This report organizes these items into eight sections: (1) freshmen profile, (2) academic preparation and expectations, (3) decision to attend college, (4) financing college education, (5) probable major and intended career, (6) lifestyle and expectations, (7) life objectives, and (8) social and political attitudes. Table 1 provides a detailed list of the items discussed in each section. A complete copy of the 1996 CIRP questionnaire is found in Appendix B.
The results for the 1996 University of Massachusetts entering class are included in every section. These results are compared with the 1996 normative scores of "medium-select" public universities, and comparisons are made between the responses of women and men where appropriate. Several analyses are provided highlighting differences between males and females. In several sections, the responses of the 1996 incoming freshmen are compared with the responses of UMass freshmen from previous years. These comparisons are made in cases where interesting or informative trends are evident.
The Appendices at the end of this report consist of the following: a list of the comparison schools (Appendix A), the 1996 CIRP questionnaire (Appendix B), comparative data tables of results from 1986 to 1996 for UMass and the comparison schools on selected items (Appendix C) and an Item-by-Item summary of the 1996 CIRP results for UMass and the comparison group of "medium-select" institutions (Appendix D).
Item Number
Freshman Profile:
age 2
racial background 20
religious preference 21
sex 1
U.S. citizen status 8
year graduated from high school 3
estimated parental income 26
parents' education 25
parents' occupation 30
parents' religion 21
parents' marital status 18
Academic Preparation:
average grade in high school 6
self evaluation 24
Decision to Attend College:
reasons for attending college 29
reasons for attending this
particular college 35
overall choice of this college 13
number of college applications 14
Financing College Education:
expected sources of income 19
Probable Major and Intended Career:
probable major 36
degree expectations 16
career preference 30
Freshman Lifestyle and Expectations:
interests and activities 23
living arrangements while at school 12
miles college is away from home 5
expectations about college 38
Student Values and Attitudes:
life objectives 37
political view 34
current issues 31
Sex and Gender Issues:
opinions about abortion laws,
acceptance of casual sex,
role of married women, and a
man's right to sex 31
likelihood of marriage while in college 38
Table 2 presents the family characteristics of University of Massachusetts freshmen.
UMass % Comparison Group %
Parents' Marital Status:
Living with each other 70.3 75.0
Divorced or separated 26.4 21.7
One or both deceased 3.3 3.3
Parents' Occupation (top three)
Father:
Businessman 32.3 29.1
Engineer 8.6 9.3
Skilled Worker 7.2 7.8
Mother:
Education (elementary & secondary) 16.7 17.5
Businesswoman 13.6 13.8
Nurse 10.2 9.3
Parental Income:
Less than $6,000 2.4 1.5
$6,000 to $9,999 1.6 1.1
$10,000 to $14,999 2.7 2.1
$15,000 to $19,999 2.6 2.7
$20,000 to $24,999 3.5 4.1
$25,000 to $29,999 4.2 4.8
$30,000 to $39,999 9.8 10.6
$40,000 to $49,999 10.7 11.6
$50,000 to $59,999 11.2 12.6
$60,000 to $74,999 16.2 15.6
$75,000 to $99,999 14.8 14.7
$100,000 to $149,999 12.6 11.6
$150,999 to $199,999 3.3 3.4
$200,000 or more 4.0 3.6
UMass Comparison Group
Father Mother Father Mother
Parents' Education:
Grammar school or less 3.0 3.1 1.8 1.6
Some high school 4.1 3.1 3.0 2.0
High school graduate 15.5 20.7 19.2 23.3
Post-secondary other
than college 3.9 6.6 5.2 7.6
Some college 12.2 13.4 15.2 18.0
College degree 31.4 31.0 31.2 30.7
Some graduate school 2.9 3.7 3.0 3.3
Graduate degree 26.2 18.4 21.4 13.7
Parents' Religion
Protestant 21.6 24.8 47.7 49.6
Roman Catholic 46.4 48.2 35.6 37.4
Jewish 11.0 10.3 2.7 2.5
Other 3.6 3.4 2.4 2.4
None 13.7 9.5 10.0 6.4
Students at The University of Massachusetts in 1996 are similar in background to students in the comparison group in most respects (Table 3). Entering students typically are 18 years of age and are predominantly white. Compared to other public "medium-select" schools, there is a larger percentage of White/Caucasians and of Asian-Americans at the University of Massachusetts. Almost all freshmen at the University and at the comparison schools are United States citizens. A noticeable difference between the two groups of freshmen is that the University has proportionately more Jews and Catholics and fewer Protestants than the comparison group.
UMass Comparison
% Group %
Sex:
Male 51.1 48.7
Female 48.9 51.3
Age:
16 or younger 0.0 0.0
17 2.5 1.8
18 76.6 70.2
19 18.9 26.7
20 1.3 0.8
21 or older 0.7 0.4
Year Graduated High School:
1996 98.2 98.6
1995 1.3 0.9
1994 0.2 0.1
1993 or earlier 0.2 0.2
High School Equivalent 0.1 0.0
U.S. Citizen: (yes) 94.3 97.7
Racial Background:
White/Caucasian 83.8 88.7
African-American/Black 4.6 4.7
Native American 1.7 1.6
Asian-American/Asian 7.0 4.0
Mexican-American/Chicano 0.3 1.0
Puerto Rican 2.1 0.8
Other Latino 2.8 1.6
Other 3.4 1.7
Religious Preference:
Protestant 18.7 44.6
Catholic 40.8 33.7
Jewish 10.1 2.0
Other 7.6 4.3
None 23.0 15.4
Academic characteristics of entering freshmen are summarized in Table 4. Freshmen at the University of Massachusetts report lower average high school grades than freshmen at comparison schools. Differences exist between men and women, with women reporting higher grades in high school than men.
Average Grade in High School
UMass % and (Comparison Group %)
Men Women Total
A- or better 13.0 (33.4) 20.0 (41.2) 16.5 (37.4)
B- to B+ 75.4 (60.4) 75.2 (55.9) 75.3 (58.2)
C or C+ 11.5 ( 6.0) 4.8 ( 3.0) 8.2 ( 4.5)
D 0.0 ( 0.1) 0.0 ( 0.0) 0.0 ( 0.0)
Table 5 provides results on how freshmen rate themselves as compared to the average person their age. The results indicate the percentage of students who rate themselves "above average."
Rating Themselves Above UMass % and (Comparison Group %)
Average Compared to Peers:
Men Women Total
Cooperativeness 68.6 (69.0) 72.0 (73.2) 70.3 (71.2)
Understanding of others 62.8 (59.2) 71.0 (68.4) 66.8 (63.9)
Academic ability 70.0 (76.7) 61.6 (67.6) 65.9 (72.0)
Drive to achieve 59.6 (68.1) 59.9 (70.0) 59.7 (69.1)
Leadership ability 57.9 (59.7) 53.6 (54.9) 55.8 (57.2)
Physical health 64.6 (71.3) 45.6 (51.7) 55.3 (61.2)
Creativity 59.1 (56.7) 51.0 (47.2) 55.1 (51.8)
Self-understanding 56.6 (59.8) 53.2 (52.8) 54.9 (56.2)
Intellectual self-confidence 59.7 (68.2) 44.1 (51.6) 52.0 (59.7)
Competitiveness 62.9 (71.3) 39.1 (47.3) 51.2 (58.9)
Emotional health 55.9 (63.2) 44.9 (52.0) 50.5 (57.5)
Social self-confidence 50.6 (52.6) 42.9 (47.2) 46.9 (49.8)
Writing ability 43.7 (42.8) 44.9 (46.8) 44.3 (44.9)
Popularity 48.5 (46.8) 37.7 (37.6) 43.2 (42.1)
Mathematical ability 52.2 (60.4) 33.5 (38.3) 43.0 (49.0)
Spirituality 32.9 (38.4) 34.0 (39.7) 33.5 (39.1)
Public speaking ability 29.3 (32.6) 31.1 (32.8) 30.2 (32.7)
Artistic ability 26.7 (29.4) 28.3 (26.3) 27.5 (27.8)
The CIRP survey asked entering freshmen about their academic expectations. Table 6 summarizes their responses. Most freshmen at the University of Massachusetts are confident that they will get a Bachelor's degree, but a much smaller proportion expects to earn at least a "B" average. Almost half of the women (46.3%) and 41.7 percent of the men predict that they will be satisfied with college. Only 15.6 percent of the freshmen say the chances are very good that they will graduate with honors, while 7.7 percent think they have a very good chance of being elected to an honor society. Almost one-fifth estimate the chances are very good that they will change their major field or career choice. Very few students expect to fail one or more courses or to drop out of college. Only 5 percent say there is a very good chance that they will need extra time to get a degree.
Chances are Very Good UMass % and (Comparison Group %) that they will: Men Women Total Get a Bachelor's Degree 77.2 (74.5) 81.7 (77.7) 79.4 (76.1) Be satisfied with college 41.7 (45.6) 46.3 (52.5) 44.0 (49.2) Make at least a B average 52.1 (51.7) 49.4 (52.1) 50.8 (51.9) Change major field 17.1 (12.6) 20.9 (16.5) 19.0 (14.6) Change career choice 16.5 (11.5) 21.1 (15.9) 18.8 (13.8) Graduate with honors 15.3 (18.4) 15.9 (18.1) 15.6 (18.3) Be elected to an honor society 6.9 (8.9) 8.6 (10.4) 7.7 (9.7) Need extra time to get degree 5.2 (8.1) 4.8 (8.0) 5.0 (8.0) Transfer to another college 4.6 (4.5) 7.1 (6.1) 5.8 (5.3) Fail one or more courses 1.4 (1.3) 0.7 (0.8) 1.0 (1.0) Drop out temporarily 0.5 (0.9) 0.7 (0.4) 0.6 (0.7) Drop out permanently 0.6 (0.8) 0.3 (0.3) 0.5 (0.5)
Students entering the University of Massachusetts cite a variety of reasons for attending college (Table 7). The majority say they decided to go to college to "learn more about things," "get a better job," "make more money," and "gain a general education." While men are more likely than women to agree that attending college is important to "make more money," women are more likely to agree that "learning more about things," "gaining a general education," "improving reading and study skills," and "becoming a more cultured person," are very important reasons in their decision to attend college.
Reasons Cited as Very Important UMass % and (Comparison Group %) in Deciding to Go to College: Men Women Total Learn more about things 74.5 (72.4) 84.0 (79.8) 79.1 (76.2) Get a better job 75.3 (77.6) 74.0 (76.7) 74.7 (77.1) Make more money 73.1 (78.0) 64.8 (70.7) 69.0 (74.2) Gain a general education 56.6 (55.3) 70.6 (67.7) 63.5 (61.7) Become a more cultured person 32.2 (30.5) 50.0 (43.4) 40.9 (37.1) Improve reading/study skills 34.3 (34.3) 44.9 (43.1) 39.5 (38.8) Parents wanted me to go 32.9 (32.6) 34.3 (35.6) 33.6 (34.1) Get away from home 23.0 (21.8) 27.0 (23.5) 24.9 (22.6) Role model/mentor encouraged me 8.0 (10.3) 9.1 (11.8) 8.5 (11.1) Could not find a job 3.7 (4.8) 4.9 (5.1) 4.3 (5.1) Nothing better to do 3.8 (3.8) 1.4 (1.9) 2.6 (2.8)
Trends over the past decade reveal the largest ten-year differentials in the proportion of students citing "parents wanted me to go" and "to get away from home" as reasons for attending college (Figure 1).
Entering freshmen are most likely to cite "graduates get good jobs" as a very important reason for selecting the University of Massachusetts (Table 8). Compared to the medium-select universities, academic reputation is a less significant factor influencing students' decision to attend the University (Figure 2). Other factors including low tuition and academic and social reputation are mentioned frequently by University of Massachusetts' students as very important reasons for selecting this institution. Several differences between men and women are noted in Table 8.
Reasons Cited as Very Important UMass % and (Comparison Group %) In Selecting UMass: Men Women Total Graduates get good jobs 40.9 (48.9) 51.5 (52.7) 46.1 (50.8) Has low tuition 41.4 (26.1) 50.9 (31.2) 46.0 (28.7) Has a good academic reputation 39.7 (52.6) 50.4 (58.5) 44.9 (55.6) Has a good social reputation 37.1 (29.0) 41.7 (31.8) 39.4 (30.5) Offered financial assistance 27.1 (19.9) 32.9 (27.0) 29.9 (23.6) Graduates go to top grad schools 23.7 (22.6) 35.0 (31.6) 29.3 (27.2) Size of college 20.7 (21.2) 29.0 (29.1) 24.8 (25.3) Offers special programs 14.6 (15.6) 27.4 (24.5) 20.9 (20.2) Wanted to live near home 8.8 (10.3) 10.8 (15.3) 9.8 (12.9) Rankings in national magazines 6.9 (9.3) 7.9 (8.7) 7.4 (9.0) Friend suggested attending 7.0 (7.8) 5.3 (7.7) 6.1 (7.8) Advice of guidance counselor 5.3 (4.4) 6.4 (4.4) 5.8 (4.4) Relatives wanted me to come 4.8 (5.9) 6.6 (6.3) 5.7 (6.1) Not accepted anywhere else 4.6 (2.9) 2.8 (1.7) 3.7 (2.3) Recruited by athletic department 3.9 (4.4) 2.7 (2.7) 3.3 (3.5) Advice of teacher 2.4 (2.9) 2.2 (2.1) 2.3 (2.5) Recruited by college rep 2.5 (2.4) 1.0 (1.6) 1.8 (2.0) Religious affil/orientation 1.2 (1.1) 1.6 (1.3) 1.4 (1.2) Private college counselor advised me 1.0 (1.2) 1.2 (0.8) 1.1 (1.0)
Almost 91 percent of the freshmen applied to at least one other college. Fifty-eight percent of the entering freshmen say that the University of Massachusetts was their first choice and 27.7 percent listed it as their second choice.
Student financial resources include family contributions, grants, scholarships, and educational loans. The percentage of students receiving aid from each of these sources is shown in Figures 3 through 5.
Most students receive at least some financial support from their parents, and 67.8 percent use income from summer work to supplement other resources (Figure 3). Over two-fifths of the freshmen intend to work part-time on-campus to help pay for college expenses. Students at the University of Massachusetts are more likely to plan to work while in college and to rely upon their savings from summer work than students at comparison schools.
Fifteen percent of University of Massachusetts freshmen rely on state scholarships or grants for financial assistance (Figure 4). Students at the University of Massachusetts are more likely to receive assistance from work-study than students at comparison schools.
This year only twenty-one percent of the entering freshmen at the University of Massachusetts received a Federal Guaranteed Student Loan (FGSL), which is down five percent from last year and down fifteen percent from 1994.
Table 9 lists the proportions of entering freshmen intending to major in various fields. Students from both the University of Massachusetts and comparison schools indicate strongest interest in business, arts and humanities, social science, professional, biological science, and engineering majors. However, compared to other public medium-select universities, a larger proportion of students at the University of Massachusetts intend to major in business, social science and arts & humanities. As Figure 6 shows, the most significant gender differences among UMass freshmen are that 16.6 percent of the men compared to 2.8 percent of the women indicate engineering as their probable major, and 16.4 percent of the women compared to 8.4 percent of the men intend to major in the social sciences.
UMass % and (Comparison Group %)
Men Women Total
Business 21.7 (16.7) 11.5 (12.7) 16.7 (14.7)
Social Science 8.4 (4.2) 16.4 (10.6) 12.4 (7.6)
Arts & Humanities 9.7 (6.3) 14.8 (8.7) 12.1 (7.6)
Professional 6.7 (11.1) 15.2 (23.4) 10.8 (17.5)
Biological Science 9.1 (7.0) 10.6 (10.0) 9.8 (8.7)
Engineering 16.6 (27.9) 2.8 (5.3) 9.8 (16.2)
Education 2.7 (3.2) 6.5 (9.1) 4.5 (6.2)
Communications 3.0 (1.5) 4.1 (2.9) 3.5 (2.2)
Physical Science 2.8 (3.3) 1.4 (2.0) 2.1 (2.6)
Computer Science 5.5 (4.5) 0.4 (0.8) 3.0 (2.6)
Data Processing 1.1 (1.4) 0.1 (0.1) 0.6 (0.7)
Undecided 9.4 (7.0) 11.0 (9.2) 10.2 (8.2)
Freshmen at the University of Massachusetts are diverse in their career interests, but cite occupations in business (15.6%) (either buyer, salesman, owner, accountant or business executive) and engineering (8.3%) more often than other careers. Other occupations frequently mentioned include lawyer or judge (3.7%), physician (5.2%), educator (6.4%), journalist (3.5%), computer programmer/analyst (3.2%), and scientific researcher (3.1%). About 19 percent said "undecided."
Figure 7 compares the percentages of UMass freshmen planning postgraduate education to the comparison group. Three-quarters of the students at the University of Massachusetts say they plan to obtain a graduate degree. Students planning graduate work are more likely to say they will pursue a Master's or Doctoral degree and less likely to say they anticipate obtaining a medical, law or other degree.
The CIRP survey asks entering freshmen to estimate the number of hours per week they participated in a variety of social and academic activities during the previous year. Activities in which students frequently participated are listed in Table 10. The vast majority said they spent at least six hours per week socializing.
Activities Students Participated UMass % and (Comparison Group %) in at Least Six Hours Per Week: Men Women Total Socializing with friends 85.5 (81.6) 83.9 (81.4) 84.7 (81.6) Working (for pay) 68.3 (63.8) 73.3 (69.6) 70.8 (66.8) Exercising or sports 59.7 (63.4) 45.0 (48.9) 52.4 (55.9) Partying 40.3 (33.2) 35.0 (30.5) 37.8 (31.8) Studying or doing homework 32.7 (31.7) 42.8 (43.0) 37.6 (37.6) Watching TV 34.9 (34.8) 22.1 (22.1) 28.7 (28.2) Student clubs or groups 8.5 (9.2) 13.1 (17.0) 10.7 (13.3) Reading for pleasure 9.8 (8.1) 8.7 (9.9) 9.2 (9.0) Household/child care duties 3.2 (4.9) 8.9 (10.8) 6.1 (7.9) Volunteer work 4.5 (5.3) 7.3 (8.5) 5.9 (7.0) Talking with teachers outside of class 2.3 (3.3) 3.5 (4.3) 2.8 (3.8) Playing video games 5.8 (6.4) 0.1 (0.7) 3.0 (3.5)
As noted in Table 10, a larger proportion of women than men at the University of Massachusetts spent time studying, participating in clubs or groups, and working for pay. A greater proportion of men than women indicate spending time exercising and watching television.
Over the past ten years the percentage of students saying they drank beer has decreased while the proportion of students who smoke cigarettes remained close to 10 percent until 1993 when it rose to 13.3 percent (Figure 8). Last year 15.2 percent of the incoming freshman smoked and this year it is up to 17.1 percent.
Students have varying expectations about their college life, as indicated in Table 11. Not quite one-half of freshmen at the University of Massachusetts think their chances are very good that they will get a job to pay for college expenses. A significantly greater proportion of women than men anticipate working to pay for college and participating in volunteer work or community service. Freshmen also express some interest in competitive sports, with 11.4 percent estimating the chances as very good that they will play varsity athletics. A smaller proportion of University of Massachusetts freshmen intend to join a fraternity or sorority than at comparison schools. ( Only about 5 percent of the student body, actually become members of Greek organizations.) Only a tiny proportion of students expect to marry while in college.
Chances are Very Good UMass % and (Comparison Group %) that they will: Men Women Total Get job to pay college expenses 39.7 (36.3) 49.4 (45.6) 44.4 (41.1) Volunteer work, community service 9.2 (9.1) 23.4 (22.6) 16.2 (16.1) Join fraternity or sorority 9.3 (14.3) 15.4 (20.2) 12.3 (17.3) Play varsity athletics 12.7 (13.2) 10.0 (9.7) 11.4 (11.4) Participate in student protests 6.0 (3.7) 10.1 (5.0) 8.0 (4.4) Marry while in college 1.6 (3.4) 1.9 (5.0) 1.8 (4.2) Be elected to student office 1.9 (2.6) 1.9 (2.9) 1.9 (2.7) Work full time while in college 1.9 (2.0) 1.7 (3.0) 1.8 (2.5)
Figure 9 shows that 44 percent of the entering freshmen at the University of Massachusetts say their chances are very good that they will be satisfied with college, compared to 49.2 percent of the freshmen at comparison schools. Women in both groups tend to be more optimistic about their college experience than men. Forty-six percent of the women at the University of Massachusetts say their chances of being satisfied are very good compared to 41.7 percent of the men. Few students say they probably will transfer to another college (5.8%).
Table 12 lists life objectives considered important to University of Massachusetts freshmen. Majorities of entering freshmen say "being very well off financially," " raising a family," and "becoming an authority in my field" are important life objectives for them. Significantly greater proportions of women than men place importance in "value" objectives such as "helping others in difficulty," "promoting racial understanding," and "influencing social values."
Top Ten Objectives Considered to UMass % and (Comparison Group %) be Essential or Very Important: Men Women Total Being very well off financially 77.1 (77.3) 71.1 (72.6) 74.2 (74.7) Raising a family 70.8 (71.4) 70.6 (71.5) 70.7 (71.5) Becoming an authority in my field 65.8 (65.1) 65.3 (63.8) 65.6 (64.4) Help others in difficulty 48.6 (45.8) 72.9 (66.8) 60.5 (56.6) Obtaining recognition from colleagues 53.5 (54.1) 56.3 (56.9) 54.9 (55.5) Developing a philosophy of life 47.0 (39.0) 48.1 (40.9) 47.5 (40.0) Being successful in own business 42.9 (42.8) 34.1 (34.8) 38.6 (38.7) Influencing social values 32.5 (28.9) 43.7 (40.7) 38.0 (35.0) Helping promote racial understanding 30.2 (24.9) 44.6 (33.9) 37.2 (29.5) Keeping up to date with politics 34.1 (32.4) 32.9 (27.3) 33.5 (29.8)
As illustrated in Figure 10, the proportion of students rating "promoting racial understanding" as an essential or very important life objective has fluctuated since 1987, reaching an all-time high of 47.9 percent in 1992, but declined since then. This year it continues to decline reaching a ten year low of 37.2 percent.
Figure 11 illustrates that it is far more important to those identifying themselves as African-American/Black to promote racial understanding than it is to those identifying themselves as White/Caucasian. .
Figures 12 to 14 show some interesting trends on three specific life objectives.
(% saying this objective is essential or very important)
(% saying objective is essential or very important)
(% saying objective is essential or very important)
Table 13 shows political orientations of freshmen at the University of Massachusetts and at comparison schools. Over half of the students describe their political orientation as "middle-of-the-road," while more than three times as many students consider themselves "liberal or far left" than "conservative or far right." The comparison group represents a more equal distribution of students between the conservative and liberal orientations. The disparity in the proportions of liberals and conservatives is greater among women than among men; 39.6 percent of women freshmen consider themselves liberal or far left while only 10.1 percent say their political orientation is "conservative or far right".
UMass % and (Comparison Group %)
Men Women Total
Liberal or far left 31.4 (21.9) 39.6 (27.5) 35.4 (24.7)
Middle of the Road 51.7 (50.2) 50.3 (56.2) 51.0 (53.3)
Conservative or far right 16.9 (27.9) 10.1 (16.4) 13.6 (22.0)
Students' agreement with a variety of statements pertaining to social and political issues is listed in Table 14. As indicated, the responses of women and men differ significantly on all but five items. Generally, larger proportions of women than men have "liberal" views on social issues. Some of the largest disparities in opinion between women and men occur on sex-related issues. Fewer than one-half of women, but nearly three-quarters of men agree that sex is O.K. if people like each other. Also, while one-quarter of men agree homosexual relations should be prohibited, 8.3 percent of women take this stance.
UMass % and (Comparison Group %)
Agrees Strongly or Somewhat: Men Women Total
Government should control handguns 84.6 (70.8) 94.3 (89.9) 89.3 (80.6)
Government not controlling pollution 83.8 (76.5) 89.6 (85.7) 86.6 (81.2)
National health care plan needed 78.3 (64.0) 85.8 (74.6) 82.0 (69.4)
Abortion should be legal 76.5 (61.6) 79.5 (64.7) 78.0 (63.2)
Wealthy should pay more taxes 68.5 (66.0) 69.9 (68.8) 69.2 (67.4)
Too much concern for rights of criminals 69.8 (75.5) 68.0 (71.5) 68.9 (73.5)
Prohibit racist/sexist speech 63.0 (56.5) 66.3 (65.4) 64.6 (61.0)
Employers can require drug tests 60.0 (75.1) 62.2 (78.8) 61.1 (77.0)
Sex is okay if people like each other 70.7 (57.4) 45.0 (35.9) 58.2 (46.4)
Affirm. action in college admissions
should be abolished 55.7 (63.1) 45.8 (46.5) 50.9 (54.7)
Marijuana should be legalized 54.0 (38.0) 46.8 (32.4) 50.4 (35.2)
People should not obey laws which
violate their personal values 45.3 (37.9) 35.7 (30.0) 40.6 (33.9)
Individual can do little to change society 36.0 (33.9) 26.4 (25.6) 31.3 (29.7)
Abolish death penalty 23.1 (15.6) 31.5 (21.8) 27.2 (18.8)
Raise taxes to reduce deficit 27.0 (30.8) 22.8 (25.8) 24.9 (27.0)
Married women best at home 23.3 (26.4) 12.8 (16.3) 18.2 (21.2)
Prohibit homosexual relations 25.0 (41.6) 8.3 (18.1) 16.8 (29.5)
Racial discrimination no longer problem 14.0 (20.5) 9.5 (12.7) 11.8 (16.5)
Note: The phrases above are abbreviations of the actual survey items. See Appendix B.
Table 15 illustrates that larger proportions of the 1996 freshmen class take a "liberal" stance on particular social issues than the 1986 freshmen class. One exception to this generalization is that a smaller proportion of 1996 freshmen than 1986 freshmen support abolishing the death penalty.
1986 1996 % Change
Men Women Total Men Women Total Men Women Total
Prohibit homosexual relations 47.9 23.5 35.2 25.0 8.3 16.8 -22.9 -15.2 -18.4
Abolish death penalty 25.8 38.7 32.5 23.1 31.5 27.2 -2.7 -7.2 -5.3
Legalize abortion 72.1 78.0 75.2 76.5 79.5 78.0 +4.4 +1.5 +2.8
National health plan needed 62.4 69.5 66.1 78.3 85.8 82.0 +15.9 +16.3 +15.9
Wealthy should pay more taxes 73.2 71.2 72.2 68.5 69.9 69.2 -4.7 -1.3 -3.0
Marijuana should be legalized 37.7 27.2 32.3 54.0 46.8 50.4 +16.3 +19.6 +18.1
Figure 15 shows that student support for legalizing marijuana declined from 1987 to 1989, but has since increased substantially each year until this year when it decreased 3.8 percent, from 32.3 percent in 1995 to 28.5 percent in 1996. Figures 16 and 17 show some interesting trends on other social issues.
Appendix A: List of Comparison Schools
Appendix B: 1996 ACE/CIRP Instrument
Appendix C: Selected Comparative Data Tables, 1987 - 1996
Appendix D: Item-by-Item Summary of the 1996 ACE/CIRP Data
The following schools represent public universities in the "medium select" group (average SAT score of between 1000 and 1100). These schools make up the "comparison group" in which UMass has chosen to be represented. In the Item-by-Item Summary in Appendix D, the normative data collected for these schools appear under the heading "Pub Univ-Med select."
Comparison schools used in the calculation of the 1996 normative or comparison data discussed throughout the report. These are the schools which were judged to have representative samples.
Florida State University
Iowa State University
North Dakota State University
Northern Illinois University
South Dakota State University
University of Connecticut
University of New Hampshire
University of North Dakota
University of Pittsburgh
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Washington State University
